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The key to good rip cuts is a good rip fence.
The Biesemeyer table saw fence is so much a part of the modern shop that the name is almost an adjective: Even if your saw’s fence is designed by the maker of your saw, it’s probably a “Biesemeyer-style” fence. It’s a fantastic, trustworthy fence, and part of the reason is that it’s so basic.
On the other hand, sometimes you need more than basic. If you’re like me, I’m sure you’ve attached featherboards, jigs, spacers and more to yours. I even use mine for my router-table extension with a clamped-on sub-fence. Most things like these have been shop-made, but third-party suppliers are responding to the need. Two in particular have caught my eye.
Woodpeckers LLC came out with an auxiliary fence system last summer (and a new compact version just a couple months ago), designed to work with any standard fence. The extruded aluminum fence is taller and longer than the standard fence, allowing more control of workpieces. It’s covered with T-tracks to allow a variety of jigs, featherboards and hold-downs to easily mount, and includes a thin table-level stock support that can be placed at either front or back.
While T-track aluminum extrusions have been available for decades, this is the first time I’d seen one produced specifically as an auxiliary fence. Curious, I Googled around online, and really only found one other similar, by Bow Products.
Like the Woodpeckers fence, this one also uses an aluminum extrusion with T-tracks, and clamps to your existing fence. While it functions the same, the design and appearance are different. It’s available in three sizes, and Bow Products offers matched accessories like featherboards and a tall-panel feed control attachment.
It’s easy to see why Biesemeyer-style fences are so popular, and why nobody has yet invented a drastically superior one. But it is possible to make a good thing better, which is what Woodpeckers and Bow Products have done. I like seeing that kind of innovation.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
